Cyclists attend the World Bike Tour 2020 in Lisbon, Portugal on October 4, 2020. (Photo by Pedro Fiuza/Xinhua)

China's bike industry has seen a gross merchandise volume exceeding 100 percent growth year-on-year for the past six consecutive months, with October alone rising even more significantly at 220 percent, latest statistics that Alibaba.com sent to the Global Times showed. The figures send a clear message on how China's rapid resumption in industrial capacity has responded to the much-needed demand for the short distance, eco friendly transportation tool abroad.

China's bicycle industry has seen a conspicuous rebound in exports during the second half of the year, with bicycle production reaching 4.52 million units in June - up 34.3 percent year-on-year - the third consecutive month of double-digit growth according to Alibaba.com, citing data from the China Bicycle Association. The US, UK and Australia ranked as the top three export destinations for bikes from Chinese factories.

In the recent Tmall Double Eleven shopping festival in November, the export volume of domestic bicycles saw a boost with an unprecedented increase of 305 percent year-on-year, data that Tmall sent to the Global Times showed.

The amount of bicycle exports increased month-on-month for five consecutive months from April to August. Among them, the export total of bicycles in the third quarter was  $1.1 billion, according to the latest statistics from the General Administration of Customs of China, which was the first time that the export of bicycles in a single quarter has exceeded $1 billion since 1995, setting a record high in the recent 25-year period.

Full production

Due to the rising demand, many domestic bike producers have suspended their orders until next year. Shanghai Phoenix Import and Export (Shanghai Phoenix), the Shanghai-based leading company in manufacturing and exporting bicycles, has scheduled orders until July next year, and due to the pandemic outbreak and the impact of the outside environment, next year's order volume will not be reduced, a source with the company said.

Seven new production lines of the Shanghai bike company have also been opened, and factory workers are working extra hours to catch up with soaring orders, media reports.

Driven by surging overseas demand, the domestic bicycle section of the A-share market is particularly eye-catching, with Shanghai Phoenix rising from 11.7 yuan ($1.77) per share in June to 15 yuan by Monday. 

Apart from Shanghai Phoenix, other domestic bike producers, such as Yiluda, based in Tianjin, have also tightened schedules for bike production and exports in light of rising overseas orders.

So far this year, the number of orders received from June to September has increased tenfold compared with last year, and the transaction volume is more than 13 times that of the same period last year, according to the company's report.

In addition to Western countries, Yiluda has received customized orders from neighboring countries including India, and although the initial order volume was not large, after two to three times of discussions, the order was repeated almost every two months, and the customized order volume was about 1.5 million yuan each time, sources with Yiluda said.

Currently, an annual agreement of 15 million yuan has been signed between Yiluda and its Indian partners, according to Yiluda.

The soaring opportunities for bike production have also contributed to the jump of new bike suppliers in China. In July, there were 18,538 newly registered bicycle-related manufacturers in China, and the number of new registered companies increased over 10,000 per month from August to October, company information website Tianyancha showed.

Graphics: GT

Driven by demand

While the shutdown of factories overseas caused by the ongoing pandemic led to the surge of the industry, experts believe that the trend of rising global awareness of the importance of fitness as the pandemic has fostered the habit of cycling, and environmental protection also contributed to the growth in bike orders.

One good example is that the main effect of COVID-19 on mobility in the Netherlands appeared to be a shift away from public transport toward other modes of transportation. According to the report by Alibaba.com, due to the fear of infection, the Dutch workforce preferred to travel by car, bike or motorcycle, which not only resulted in an increase in car travel, but also in the growth of sales figures for (electric) bicycles or motorcycles. 

Meanwhile, given the insufficient overseas production capacity for spare parts for bikes, many international bike companies can only use parts made in China.

Many customers are now proposing replacing imported parts with domestic parts, mainly because of the shutdown or closure of foreign factories caused by the epidemic, industry insiders said.

The pandemic will be a window for the bicycle industry to seize overseas markets and a good time for Chinese parts manufacturers to start increasing quality, production capacity, R&D and public praise, industry insiders said.